Seattle Mariners centerfielder Julio Rodriguez of Loma de Cabrera, Dominican Republic made Major League Baseball history on Thursday. By hitting his 20th home run of the season in a 6-4 Mariners win over the Kansas City Royals, Rodriguez became only the second MLB player ever to have 20 home runs and 20 stolen bases in each of his first two Major League seasons according to Sarah Langs of mlb.com.
Who was the first?
The first player to accomplish the feat was Kansas City Royals infielder Bobby Witt of Colleyville, Texas. Fascinatingly, Witt achieved the feat only two weeks ago when he hit his 20th home run of the season in a 7-5 Royals win over the Philadelphia Phillies. In 2022, Witt had 20 home runs and 30 stolen bases. So far in 2023, he has 23 home runs and 34 stolen bases. Also in 2023, Witt leads Major League Baseball with seven triples.
Rodriguez’s totals over the last two years?
In 2022, Rodriguez, who was the American League Rookie of the Year, had 28 home runs and 25 stolen bases. This season, he has 20 home runs and 30 stolen bases.
Outstanding series against the Royals
In the four game series against Kansas City, of which Seattle won three games, Rodriguez batted .571 with 12 hits in 21 at bats. He has had nine hits over his last two games (six singles, two doubles and one home run), and seven runs batted in over the last 48 hours too.
2023 MLB Statistics
Rodriguez is batting .269 with 20 home runs and 78 runs batted in. During 118 games, 544 plate appearances, and 499 at bats, he has scored 72 runs and had 134 hits, 29 doubles, one triple, 38 walks, 225 total bases, an on base percentage of .329, and a slugging percentage of .451. Rodriguez’s triple came in a 9-2 Mariners win over the Colorado Rockies on April 15.
Mariners in the playoff hunt
With the win on Thursday, the Mariners improved to a record of 66 wins and 55 losses. They are half a game back of the Toronto Blue Jays for the final playoff spot in the American League.
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